The Last Apprentice: Rage of the Fallen (Book 8)

Written by Joseph Delaney

Narrated by Christopher Evan Welch

A dangerous few months lie ahead—ones which some of us will be hard-pressed to survive.

Thomas Ward has served as the Spook's apprentice for three years. He has battled boggarts, witches, demons, and even the devil himself. Tom has enemies: The Fiend stalks him, waiting for a moment of weakness. The terrifying Morrigan, goddess of witches, warned him never to step foot on her homeland, Ireland.

But now war has consumed their own country, and Tom, his friend Alice, and the Spook must flee to Ireland. The dark rages strongly there. No one can be trusted. Can Tom defeat the creatures that hunt him most fiercely?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9780062061980

Joseph Delaney

Joseph DELANEY is the author of the internationally best-selling The Last Apprentice series, which is now a major motion picture, Seventh Son. He is a former English teacher who lives in the heart of boggart territory in Lancashire, England. His village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.

Reviews for The Last Apprentice

[carolyn skotko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the 8th book, ignore the reviews that say this is the last book. I find that this searies is much better if you dont read them back to back. They are great booke but they recap the past books so well, it can become really redundant if read right after. These books are great and a great addition to anyones reads. Entertaining with a delicious hint of suspense.

[teamdewey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Violent and dark. Grimalkin the only regular character from series that appears in book. Doesn't continue main series story line much. New characters that I believe will show up in finale of series.

[teppy11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

You know you've got a great series when after you've finished the 8th book to a series you're still craving more! I finished this book in one go. I could not put it down. Of course I didn't finish reading until 3a.m. which left my heart pumping and too scared to even want to sleep or be in the dark. I LOVE this series!

[silverlily26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the final book in the wardstone series, like the rest of the books, it's a good vs evil book with a twist. The final battle is here but who actually wins.Obviously if you have read the other 12 you enjoy this book

[bookaddictdiary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was a little skeptical after I read the last book in the Last Apprentice series, Rise of the Huntress. Well, okay, so I've been a little skeptical about this series for the past two-ish books. I've been a big fan ever since the beginning. The uniquely dark, scary and downright awesome nature of this series completely intruged me, and I felt like this series finally got witches and monsters, etc. right -they are to be feared and controlled more than anything else. Delaney's quick, crisp writing and fast-paced plots certainly helped. But, I feel like the story has been going around in circles for a little while now, almost like we're stuff in a cycle of side stories! But, Rage of the Fallen put things back on track with an explosive and game-changing ending.Still far from the county, the Spook, Tom and Alice come to a town with a big problem -not to mention some dark secrets of its own. As Tom and co. work to get rid of the town's monster problems, Alice is kidnapped and taken to the realm of the Fiend, where no mortal dares go -or returns from. With the help of a strange old god, Tom seeks a way to bring Alice back while fighting off Grimilkin, the infamous witch assassin, dark cults and even the Fiend himself in a showdown that will change the very future of the dark.As fast-paced and eerily haunting as Last Apprentice fans expect, the overarching plot finally moves ahead in Rage of the Fallen in very serious ways. Not only does he finally deal with the Fiend, but Alice goes through some interesting and unexpected character growth that will leave a mark on her for the rest of the series. I was so incredibly pleased to see this, as it seems to have been an issue with this series recently. For a good portion of the novel I was actually a little worried it may end up as an side story, but once the action really started to take off, I found that I was dead wrong.As dark, creepy and thoroughly exciting as previous novels, Rage of the Fallen gave me renewed faith in the Last Apprentice series and left me desperate for more!

[krau0098 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have really enjoyed this series and was kind of sad to see that this is the final book in the series. While I did love a lot of things about this final book, I was also disappointed with how much this book doesn’t wrap up. It looks like Tom Ward’s story is going to be continued in a trilogy called the Starblade Chronicles (which I got just last week for review). So while this was a great read, don’t expect a lot of the story to actually be resolved.Tom Ward finally has to face the thing he has been dreading, he has to defeat the Fiend by sacrificing Alice. Gregory is there to help, but he is feeling his age. Grimalkin thinks she may have found a way to defeat the Fiend without sacrificing Alice. When Grimalkin and Alice go off to work on that plan, a new Mage appears and he derails everyone’s plans.This was an engaging and interesting story. The story is expanded quite a bit and some new characters are introduced. The main one is a Mage that is evil and mysterious. His appearance in the story starts the next storyline that will be dealt with in The Starblade Chronicles.I enjoy Tom as a character, he has more and more powers appearing as he unlocks his heritage both as the son of a lamia and as a 7th son of a 7th son. He does get a bit whiny at points in this story though, something that was new for him and not at all fun to read.My favorite character of the novel continues to be Grimalkin. She is super tough and really fights for what she believes in, she is just such an awesome character to read about and she is in the story quite a bit.Alice isn’t in the story a lot and she was one of the biggest disappointments for me in this book. Her character takes a turn that I didn’t enjoy and I was disappointed in the direction things took with her and Tom. I won’t say a whole lot more of that because of spoilers.This book is much darker than the rest of the series (more along the lines of I Am Alice, which was also darker). It is very violent and there is a lot of heartbreak and betrayal. I continue to really enjoy the epic struggle between light and dark that takes place in these books. This book really shows some shades of grey as well, since some dark characters are forced to band together with the good in order to fight an even greater evil.Some people have complained about the simplicity of the writing style, I don’t think that has really changed. Delaney has always had a somewhat stark and simplistic writing style...at times the dialogue between characters has felt forced or stilted. I believe all the books in the series have been like this though and I enjoy it because it’s a style that makes for good classic storytelling, which is something Delaney excels at.Although I still love the characters and the story, my biggest disappointment was the lack of resolution. Yes, the main plotline (the destruction of the Fiend) is wrapped up. However, so many new elements are thrown into the story that the Fiend’s destruction felt a bit anti-climatic. The reader is really pushed towards new things (mainly story elements that were revealed in the earlier book Slither) and isn’t given a whole lot of resolution for any of the characters.Overall I really enjoyed this book a lot but there were a few disappointments too. I was really disappointed in the lack of resolution and in the direction Alice is taking as a character. I continue to enjoy Delaney’s excellent storytelling, the illustrations throughout, the interesting characters, and the epic struggle between light and dark. I will definitely be reading The Starblade Chronicles as it releases….you pretty much have to if you are going to get any closure for these characters.

[ptom3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was the 13th and final installment in the Last Apprentice saga. I feel it fell flat. Also, it proved that book 11, Slither, had nothing to do with the series.Tbe giant climax that built and built was something of a let down when the confrontation between Thomad Ward and the Fiend occurred.I am okay with non-happy endings. but the amount of loose ends either suggests openings for more books, or a lack of effort after so much dedicated time to the story.Regardless--I still enjoyed the tale. I just expected ... more.Phillip TomassoAuthor of VACCINATION and DAMN THR DEAD